Process of attacking compact mineral material, noncombustible in oxygen



May 13 1924. 1,494.003

| M. MALCHER PROCESS OF ATTACKING COMPACT MINERAL MATERIAL, NONCOMBUSTIBLE IN OXYGEN Filed Aug. rsv 19 22 Patented May 3, 1924.

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Application filed August a, 1922; Serial Fe. 579,504.

To all whom it may come m:

Be it known that 1, L110 M MALCHER, a citizen of the United States,residin at Chicago, in the county of Cook and tate of Ilhnois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of AttackingCompact Mineral Material, Noncombustible in Oxygen, of which thefollowing is a specificatlon;

This invention is a process for piercing or cutting compact mineralmaterials which are non-combustible in oxygen, and for producingcavities or oves in such material, or otherwise isintegrating it. Ex- 1amples of the materials referred to are the solid, compact,non-carbonaceous minerals,

and such artificial stone-like materials as brick, cement, concrete,plaster, mortar and stucco.

m The piercing or cutting of such materials when it becomes necessary inuarr ing,

, excavating, razing structures an bui ding operations, is commonlyefiected by drilling,

sawing, chiseling or like mechanical operations. These processes areslow, and therefore expensive. Under some conditions they becomeexceedin ly laborious, as when the material operated on is very hardrock or concrete reinforced with iron. Under other 59 conditions, aswhen operatin on furnace linings or other materials whic have a hightemperature, the edge of any mechanical cutting device is destroyed bythe heat, and mechanical -cutting becomes practically impossible. 7 I

The object of my invention is to provide a method whereby hard compactsubstances of the kind described may be more readily pierced, out, orotherwise disintegrated.

This object is accomplished by. causing a suitable disintegrating fluxto act upon the material at the point where it is desired to attack it,removing the spent flux and the product of its reaction on the material,

453 sup lying fresh flux to attack the surface of t e material thusexposed, and keeping the flux heated to. a temperature where it activelyattach the material. Mechanical means may in some cases be used in con-I jction with the chemical disintegration m Un ei to,

A specific example in accordance with my invention will now be describedin connectlon with the accompanying drawing, wherem- Fig. 1 is a view ofthe member providmg the flux and the fuel for fusing it, and an oxygencontainer for supply oxygen to burn the fuel;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section of the fuel and flux member Falong e of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the apparatus as used in perforating apier of concrete The fuel employed in the example to be described ismetallic iron,"and is arranged in the form of two concentric pipes, 10 dii. In the annular passe s between the pipes is placed the powdered flux12, which may be composed of sodium carbonate borax, and common salt inequal pro ortlons. The inner pipe 10 is connects by a flexible tube 13with an oxygen cylinder Q, in such "fashion that oxygen may be dehveredthrough the inner passage without displacing the flux The process iscarried out as follows: The ends 0 the pi es 10 and 11 remote from thetube 13 are rst brought to their ignition temperature inoxy en by meansof an ordinary acetylene torch, a slow stream of oxygen being maintainedthrough the inner ipe 10 during such heatin When one or 0th of the ironpipes iite, the member F is placed against the concrete pier C at thepoint where the perforation is desired, and the suply of oxygen isincreased to a quantity sucient to sustain vigorous combustion.

The burning of the iron liberates a large quantity of heat, while theliquid iron ox1d produced attacks the concreteand decom oses it. As thepipes burn ed, the flux is liberated and also attacks the concrete. Themolten products of the reaction flow from the hole and fresh concrete isthus exposed to the action of the decomposing agents. The member F isfed forward and he t with its extremit at the bottom of the ho e untilthe desir dfigfllll. is attained or the pier is perforated. e shield Sprotects g I memos l to use a single pi e instead of two concentriopipes, and to lntroduce a fluxing agent,

with or without a fuel, into the pipe in such fashion that the stream ofoxygen or other gas will carry the added material forward to thereaction zone. Any suitable apparatus may be employed for this purpose,for example that shown in the patent to Harrison, 968,350 dated Aug. 23,1910.

The invention 'ves particularly advantageous results when applied tomembers reinforced with metal rods, wire or the like, such as reinforcedconcrete. Such reinforcements, if large, are an almost insurmountableobstacle to attack by mechanical means, but present no difficulties whenthe process of my invention is followed. Under many conditions, thereinforcing members actually assist in the cutting operation, as theycan be burned in oxygen and thereby destroyed, and their burningproduces a materlal which stron ly. attacks the nonmetallic materialwhich encases them. The heat due to their combustion and the materialformed-thereby are both produced at the point where they will exerttheir maximum efiects.

The process lends itself to a wide variety of applications and may bemodified in numerous ways, for example with respect to the compositionof the flux, the manner of heating it, the manner of supplying the fluxto the material under attack, and the manner of removin the reactionproducts dur' the-course o the operation. It will be un erstood that thecomposition of the flux will be so related to that of the materialoperated on that decomposition of-the latter will proceed at a maximumrate with the formation of a product ada ted by its fluidity and otherproperties to removed readily from the reaction zone. Siliciousmaterlals will require basic fluxes while calcareous materials willrequire acidic'fluxes,

thechoice of the. flux dependin upon considerations similar to' thoseollowed in smeltin processes.

Heating may be effected with the blowtorch, using acct lene or othergaseous fuel,

or heat produ by the. electric arc or develo ed in an electricalresistance may 'be em oyed. The combustion of a solid fuel,

suc as coal dust, comminuted metal or metal in coherent form, as in thespecific example described, in air or oxygen, can also be nude tosupplfy the requisite heat. Any

combination 0 these methods of heating ma be used.

the s ecific example described, the a nts whic chemically a'tack thematerial operated on fall into two classes. The

iron oxid is formed at the expense of oxy gen consumed during theprocess, while the alkaline fluxes mentioned absorb no oxygen, beingintroduced into the process in a orm wherein they are able to attack thematerial immediately and without preliminary oxidation. As used in theclaims, the

term preformed flux is restricted to the latter class of agents, whichrequire no preliminary oxidation to develop their disintegratingproperties.

The invention is in no way restricted by any specific compositions,proportions, or arrangements of parts described herein, but is limitedonly by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Process of attacking a localized area of com act mineral materialwhich comprises ceding to. such area a preformed flux capableofdecomposing the material at an elevated temperature, and flowing awayfrom the region the products of the reaction between the flux and saidmaterial.

2. Process of attacking compact mineral material which comprisesestablishing a localized reaction zone wherein the material is incontact with a preformed decomposing flux, flowing away thedecomposition product, and suppl ing additional-preformed flux to theund eoomposed material thusexposed.

3'. Process of attac a localized area of compact mineral material whichcomprises feeding to such area a preformed-flux capable of decomposingthe material at an ele-' vated temperature, heating the flux by thecombustion of a metal whichforms an oxid capable of decomposing saidmineral material, and flowing away from the region of attack thedecomposition product of said mineral material. A i

4. Process according to claim 3 wherein the preformed flux comprises a'compound of an alkali metal.

5. Process according to claim 3- wherein the preformed flux comprisessodium carbonate. r

6. Process according to claim 3 wherein the metal burned for heating thepreformed flux is iron.

7. Process according to claim 3 wherein oxygen in concentrated form issup lied to burn the metal used for heating t e preformed flux. p

8. Process of attacking compact mineral material which comprises estabcalized reaction zone wherein the material is in contact with apreformed decomposing terial, and supplying additionalpreformed flux tothe undecomposed material thus ex-- posed.

'- 9. Process of perforating concrete which oos comp burning iron pipein ozyen in. contact with the concrete, feeding ro ormeo fiuxingmaterial; to the me of contact, andi feeding the iron piye xorward as itis con- 5 sumed an& the concrete is finned; away. 10. Process ofperforating reinforced concrete which comprises advancing a highlyheated region through the concrete, supplying oxygen to said; region toconsume the remforcement and supplying preformed flux to said region todecompose the com crefie. In testimony whereof I ofix @M'. I. 2 I

